Tuesday, July 8, 2008

What Failure?

Yesterday, our 'beloved' DPM said that the anti-oil hike rally held on Sunday, July 6, is a failure (see reports from TheStar and MalaysiaKini). According to him, the people did not turn up in the numbers expected. It was expected that 1,000,000 people would turn up, hence so-called "One Million People Protest Rally". If fact, only 30,000 rakyat, fashioning in red T-shirts, flooded the field for the rally.

After reading the reports from both mainstream media and alternative media, I have tons of questions. Yes, tons of questions - summarized into 5.

1. If only 999,999 rakyat turn up for the rally, is it considered successful? A logical answer is no, because "people did not turn up in the numbers expected". Of course, 1 rakyat short what.

2. Only 30,000 rakyat turn up. It is a failure. So, 30,000 rakyat out of 27 million rakyat is a failure. Is it right to ignore the Minority Report? A bit tricky question eh... If anyone watched the movie Minority Report, he should know how devastating a Minority Report could be should it be ignored. Hmm.... points to ponder.

3. Only 30,000 rakyat turn up. It is a failure. So, for the 10,000+ rakyat that vote for Pekan constituency, are they a failure? A more tricky question eh... My personal opinion - of course they are not a failure. They are given the citizenship right to vote for their leader. Every vote counts. Erm... maybe someone does not think so.

4. Can a citizen's voice be silenced just because his voice does not belong to the majority? Read #2 above, on Minority Report.

5. Rakyat around the country is now very, very poor because of the chain effects of petrol price hike. Everything except rakyat's salary is inflated. Food, commodities, services - all inflated. How do you think they could afford to pay bus/plane tickets from around the country to attend the rally? My opinion - if they were given free tickets, the attendees could flood the whole KL.

So, failure? What failure? Failure merely because it goes against some Goliath institution? Failure my foot!!

A reminder - everyone, within and outside Bolehland, is watching what you do and listening what you say.